Windows App Developer Links - 2012-06-07

posted on 06 Jun 2012 | App Developer Links

Internet Explorer 10

  • Moving the Stable Web Forward in IE10 Release Preview (IEBlog)

    • "As part of Windows 8 Release Preview planning, we reviewed all the W3C draft standards supported by IE10. In particular, we looked for those specifications that: Are stable, that is, there were no recent additions or changes and no renaming or major changes are expected; Are supported by at least two browsers other than IE10; Are interoperable across all these browsers for the features' core use cases; Are already used on the Web, including in their unprefixed form; and Reached Candidate Recommendation since Windows 8 Consumer Preview or are likely to become Candidate Recommendations in 2012..."

Metro App Development

  • HOW TO: Use SQLite in C# Metro style app (Tim Heuer)

    • "I got a few questions and comments about how to actually include SQLite in a C# Metro style app. Since perhaps it wasn't clear in describing in my post, I thought a quick video might help demonstrate the steps to build and use SQLite in a C# Metro style app. The video walks through actually building SQLite from the source (Visual Studio 2012 required...express is fine) and adding it to a C# Metro style app, create a database, populate with some data based on a class and databind the query to a ListView. The video references my OneNote notebook on the tools you need to download and build the SQLite source. It also demonstrates using the sqlite-net library from NuGet on interacting with SQLite in a C# application."

  • Detecting your Windows 8 app is running in the background (Joost van Schaik)

    • "In Windows Phone life was so simple: when the user put your app in the background, as of version 7.5 the OS effectively froze all threads, timers and whatnot completely automatically. And it was automatically restarted too, if you used fast application switching. That kind of freeloading appeals to my natural programmer's laziness so I put that to good use. That is, by doing nothing and letting the OS taking care of things. Enter Windows 8: that has a even more sophisticated multi tasking system that allows things to actually keep running in the background. Excellent for most scenarios, but not if you are writing a game. I am currently porting Catch'em Birds to Windows 8 and observed that although the game music (thankfully) shuts up when the game is put in the background, the birds keep on flying and the timer keeps on running..."

  • Windows 8: The Animated Pie Slice (Jerry Nixon)

    • "I am currently creating a sample application that requires an animated pie slice for its user interface. So, I set out to build an animated pie slice. It turns out this is difficult, then suddenly easy. Come learn what I learned..."

Apps & Code to Look At

  • Bing Maps SDK for Metro style apps (RP) (Visual Studio Gallery)

    • "Bing Maps SDK for Metro style apps (Release Preview) combines the power of Windows 8 and Bing Maps™ to provide an enhanced mapping experience for Metro style apps. Developers can use this Bing Maps control to incorporate the latest road maps, aerial views, and low-angle high-resolution images into a Windows 8 Metro style app. This SDK includes controls for apps built using JavaScript, as well as apps built using C#, C++, and Visual Basic, and requires a Bing Maps Key for Metro style apps (Release Preview)."